Government and public statistics
Assistive software funded through Disabled Students' Allowance: consultation document, March 2026
Department for Education, Department for Education (England), Disabled Students' Allowance team, 2026
Read the originalRead on October 16, 2026
- What it is
- The Department for Education's public consultation, open from 26 March to 18 June 2026, on which assistive software the Disabled Students' Allowance should fund in future. It sets out a proposed rule for speech-to-text software and states the department's review of free tools.
- How much weight it carries
- Official government consultation document. It states proposals, not decisions: the department had not published its response in the sources we checked on 16 October 2026, so the final rules may differ. It is the department's own text, so the proposal is quoted exactly.
Facts taken from this source
- The Department for Education's consultation on assistive software funded through the Disabled Students' Allowance closed on 18 June 2026.
“The consultation closes on 18 June 2026.” (Section: Deadline)
- The Department for Education's review of the speech-to-text software on offer found that free-to-access tools are easy to get and simple to set up, and that they support basic transcription, which makes them suitable for students with general dictation needs.
“free-to-access speech-to-text software tools are easy to access, require minimal set-up, and support basic transcription tasks, making them suitable for students with general dictation needs.” (Section: Speech-to-text software)
- In its March 2026 consultation, the Department for Education proposed that, other than in exceptional circumstances, it would fund speech-to-text software only for students who, because of their disability, rely on speech recognition as their main way of writing and of controlling a computer.
“Our proposed approach going forwards is that other than in exceptional circumstances, we will only fund speech-to-text software for students who, as a result of their disability, rely on speech recognition as their primary method of written communication and of controlling a computer.” (Section: Speech-to-text software (question 21))